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Sunday, February 27, 2011

I am a fortunate man to have witnessed the best batting innings in the World Cups so far, and I have not missed a single cricket match since the 1996 Cup. Yes, it may be unfathomable to certain people, but this innings bettered, Sir Vivian Isaac Alexander Richards' 181, Kapil Dev's phenomenal 175, Stephen Fleming's 134, Aravinda De Silva's 107, Sachin Tendulkar's 98, not withstanding numerous cameos by legendary match winners like Lance Klusener, Sanath Jayasuriya, Adam Gilchrist, etc. Yes, I am talking about the gem of an innings Andrew Strauss played today at the Chinnaswamy Stadium at Bengaluru- an innings of 158 runs off 145 balls, studded with 18 boundaries and a massive sixer, an innings that threatened to pull off an immense chase of 339 runs and helped pull off a tie......a far better result considering the fact that none of the teams deserved to lose this match. Today Strauss batted like God. He simply could not be ruffled by the Indian bowlers. He virtually got the requisite boundary every over during the improbable run chase and kept milking the rest of the balls for singles and doubles. Such was the awesome form of the man that only a delivery that even a God would fear to play could get him out. And he got out to the best delivery of the match by a fair distance- a toe crushing reverse swinging yorker from Zaheer Khan. What more can a foreign player expect than a standing ovation from the most devoted fans of the opposing team, when he takes the long walk back to the pavilion and he deservedly got that. Perhaps he is right in saying that today he played the innings of his life. I salute to the man who provided such wondrous entertainment amidst the mundane matches till date in this world cup. I will keep this innings right there in my top shelf along with Herschelle Gibbs' 175 in that mother of all ODI matches.

Andrew Strauss came to silence the Indian spectators and won their cheering praise instead......grudging respect but respect all the same.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Making the bucket list is the new fashion, the "in-thing" and for once the cynic in me finds no fault in making a bucket list. So here I am compiling a list of "must-do" items which I am going to attempt to complete before I die. Its a good thing that I am preparing this list right at the moment when I am about to pass out of university and start earning for myself. My advice to you people would be to follow suit and start doing exactly what you have dreamed of doing since childhood.......doesn't matter if it was inspired by the silliest of moves of Sunny Deol.

My list is as following (no particular order):

A tour of all famous and historical places of India (yes with a backpack, a couple of friends and all the romanticism of Bollywood)

A tour of most of the worth visiting places of the world, especially, New Zealand, Greece, Italy, Samarkhand, Jerusalem, Damascus, Egypt, Switzerland, Netherlands, Spain, Great Britain, France, Germany, a safari in South Africa and some of other forest reserves of Africa, the great rift valley and Victoria falls of Africa, Alaska, the Grand Canyon, Machchu Pichchu, the dense Amazonian rainforests........I can't stop counting these places once I start.

Learn guitar

Learn Urdu, Telugu and spanish

Earn a bachelors degree in mathematics

Publish a paper

Watch an Olympics, the four grand slam tournaments in Lawn Tennis, the soccer World Cup, the cricket World Cup, an India-Pakistan, India-Australia and India-South Africa test